MAPD Renewal Commissions After Death of Agent

wehotex

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Houston, Tex
Once again, another agent acquaintance has passed away. I can't help but think of all of his renewal commissions (hard work) that will presumably go to the wayside. I'm not aware of any other way to get around this unless a partner licenses and appoints themselves together as an agency, partnership organization. Do the uplines also lose renewals when this happens? If the agent is writing business with the Agency's writing #, is that a way to get around it? Ie, the agent would be paid by the Agency and renewals paid at the Agency's discretion to survivor in case of the Agent's death (assuming that the Upline receives their override PLUS dead agent's renewals). Anybody have experience with this?
 
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Absent a written agreement between the agent and partners to assume his business, the accounts become house accounts for the carrier.
 
Absent a written agreement between the agent and partners to assume his business, the accounts become house accounts for the carrier.

If the agent incorporates and the commish goes to an agency (instead of an individual), I think they stick with the corporation.

Thoughts?
 
Doesn't matter who get's the commission, in most (all?) states there must be a licensed individual as writing agent.

A few months ago I had lunch with a good friend and fellow agent that is growing his agency by acquisition. Some purchases are people who want to get out of the business but others are agents who have a written agreement to sell their block should they become disabled or die.

Even if incorporated, the agency will survive the death of the principle but commissions won't.
 
Doesn't matter who get's the commission, in most (all?) states there must be a licensed individual as writing agent.

A few months ago I had lunch with a good friend and fellow agent that is growing his agency by acquisition. Some purchases are people who want to get out of the business but others are agents who have a written agreement to sell their block should they become disabled or die.

Even if incorporated, the agency will survive the death of the principle but commissions won't.

On the med supp side at least the contracts have a beneficiary option for the commissions. Does anyone know how long that will pay, say a spouse, after death?
 
MA is one of the few types of product that requires certification beyond a basic insurance license.

Medigap, IFP, life insurance, etc do have beneficiary designations but that does not mean the commissions pay out indefinitely. It is my understanding commissions for these product lines will continue for a while after receiving notification of the death of the agent but only for a finite period of time. They most certainly will not survive the next renewal of the policy, or license, whichever comes first.
 
MA is one of the few types of product that requires certification beyond a basic insurance license.

Medigap, IFP, life insurance, etc do have beneficiary designations but that does not mean the commissions pay out indefinitely. It is my understanding commissions for these product lines will continue for a while after receiving notification of the death of the agent but only for a finite period of time. They most certainly will not survive the next renewal of the policy, or license, whichever comes first.

In some cases, I've seen Health Plans allow for AOR changes to a new agent, but that requires all the policyholders to be notified and not all companies will cooperate to do it.

The other way to handle this is to have an agency which holds res/non res licenses in the states where business is written. Then, you need to have at least 2 individual agents (also both licensed in res/non res states) who are ready to certify for the entity (in case one passes away, the other individual will certify on behalf of the entity).

Somarco is right that MA/PDP is by far the toughest product to protect renewals/vesting. This would include not only death, but quite a few other situations that prevent the agent from certifying or where the agent loses their license.
 
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